Pole Pole

Very little of what we call "classical music" has been specially composed for children (with narration addressed specifically to them), either for didactic reasons or for plain, simple enjoyment. In the former category (to familiarize children with the instruments of the orchestra) are Benjamin Britten's "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" and Camille Saint-Saëns's "Carnival of the Animals" (which, strictly speaking, had been an "adult" conceit on Saint-Saëns's part). In the latter category are such classics as Francis Poulenc's "Babar the Elephant" and Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf." But the list is abysmally small.

Carried by its almost impossibly infectious eponymous opening track, The Sidewinder helped foreshadow the sounds of boogaloo and soul-jazz with its healthy R&B influence and Latin tinge. While the rest of the album retreats to a more conventional hard bop sound, Morgan's compositions are forward-thinking and universally solid. Only 25 at the time of its release, Morgan was accomplished (and perhaps cocky) enough to speak of mentoring the great Joe Henderson, who at 26 was just beginning to play dates with Blue Note after getting out of the military. Henderson makes a major contribution to the album, especially on "Totem Pole," where his solos showed off his singular style, threatening to upstage Morgan, who is also fairly impressive here…

For many serious jazz fans, no pianist has ever approached the technical mastery of Art Tatum, though his virtuoso skills usually meant he was at his best unaccompanied. Many of his recordings from the 1930s and '40s were limited by the deficiencies of recording methods at the time. Piano Starts Here, long considered one of Tatum's definitive albums, combined four solos from a 1933 studio session (his first as a soloist, aside from a test pressing a year earlier), and a fabulous solo concert at the Shrine Auditorium in 1949 (the latter issued as an Armed Forces Radio Service 16" transcription disc), which has been reissued many times over the decades…

The Little Village Foundation run by keyboardist Jim Pugh assembled this band through Indian blues harmonica player & singer Aki Kumar, who brought drummer June Core and guitarist Rome Yamilov, deciding to make the release a "crazy guitar album" by adding Henry Kaiser; along with vocalist Lisa Leuschnet they hit the mark in an exuberantly diverse set of blues performing the music of J.B. Lenoir.

Four CD box set from the Folk/Blues/Gospel singer, actress and activist containing seven of her albums: The Tin Angel, My Eyes Have Seen , Odetta Sings Ballads And Blues, Christmas Spirituals, At The Gate Of Horn, Ballad For Americans And Other American Ballads and Odetta At Carnegie Hall…